Among Us Is Free On Epic

Monday, E3 media partners were announced, and later we’d find out Microsoft and Bethesda are holding a single conference, which was confirmed later in the week. Tuesday, I continued to translate a bit of French as Yves Guillemot put out a letter claiming sainthood, and employees see it the other way. Wednesday, there were a metric ton of announcements made on Thursday, weeks before E3 would fine things down; while rumor has it, Valve is working on a Nintendo Switch-Like console. Thursday, The Epic and Apple case closed this week, as Epic’s closing remarks were akin to a child clanging pans and shouting; Also, BlizzCon 2021 is canceled.

Right, let’s get to that loud shouty bit with me, where I call Tim Sweeney a cheap two-dollar strumpet climbing a pole with only his leg muscles. Among Us, really? We’ve waited a week for the reveal that a free-to-play game on mobile is going to be a couple of quid on PC. Currently, it is free on the Epic Games Store… because it was really popular for the entire length of the internet’s attention span, three whole milliseconds.

Look, I stumbled across a thing this week about NBA 2K21‘s week in the sun. It was about how we shouldn’t complain because it is free and there are plenty of other games we all have. Yes, I understand that, believe me I do. However, as someone who’s currently covering these games week in and week out, I have to find something to say. Sometimes that’s simply confusion and anger when comparing other releases to what is currently available.

Last year during this Mega Summer Sale, there were some really big hitters. Grand Theft Auto V, Civ VI, the collection of the Borderlands games, and something else I can’t quite remember, all making up for something for just about everyone. Look, I’m not going to say, “they aren’t catering to me specifically, therefore it is all crap,” it’s not. Nonetheless, I will say it is a very hyperactive teenager that is being catered for right now who thinks horrid little memes about harming others are funny.

Look, if you like Among Us, that’s fine. I’m not going to begrudge you of that, I enjoy very dry strategy games from time to time because I’m old (“I’m nearly twelve“). We all have our little kinks. My biggest thing against the “mystery game” is the simple fact that last week was aimed at a very specific niche. After the hype of Among Us has died down, it also feels more or less like a slight niche too.

I may also be slightly annoyed as, throughout the week, I’ve been monitoring the “leaks” surrounding the Epic Games Store, and what this could have been. Shock among shocks, the French Facebook ad that displayed Rise of the Tomb Raider was wrong, which I knew just by looking at it. Also, no one caught on to the simple fact that when Epic often does things with a series, Batman or Watch_Dogs for example, you get the first then the second, or all three in a trilogy. Not just the second game in a running series (Well, you better go catch it!).

All this week, you can pick up Among Us is free to all who have an Epic Games Store account, available until the 3rd of June. Next week is once again a mystery though. For all we know, it will be Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. I honestly couldn’t think of anything else that was popular for three minutes and has since disappeared, aside from fidget spinners. Does anyone remember fidget spinner? Am I really that old that you’re all too young for them too?